Brian Cain discusses tips on advertising the player’s mentality you want
Base running tips for the indoor off-season
As winter kicks into gear, many players around the country are stuck indoors for much of their practice routine. Hopefully this includes some base running as well. Here are five tips to get the most out of your indoor running.
Agility Drills to Improve Baseball Fielding
Good fielding requires a potent combination of mobility, speed, agility and ball-handling skills. I’ve put together this set of baseball agility drills to help you become faster and more nimble in the field.
Angle Drill for Outfielders – Mark Brew – Lee Univ.
Coach Mark Brew explains and teaches an Angle Drill for Outfielders
Middle Infielders – Double Relay – Brandon Buck – Mountain Pointe HS (AZ)
Coach Brandon Buck explains and demonstrates a Middle Infielders – Double Relay Drill
Using a Stepper for Hitting Drills – Baseball By The Yard
Coach Bob McCreary discusses and demonstrates using a stepper for hitting drills
Shoulder and Rotator Cuff Training
Human Kinetics explains and demos exercise to strengthen and protect the shoulder and rotator cuff
Team Defense – Run Downs – Andy Lopez – Univ. Of AZ
Coach Andy Lopez runs his squad through a Team Defense Drill emphasizing rundowns
How to Shake off Pitch Location
Coach Bob McCreary discusses the importance of pitcher – catcher communications
Tee Drills – Ed Servais – Creighton Univ.
Coach Ed Servais Expalins and demonstrates Tee Drills
Pitching Towel Drill – Karl Kuhn – Univ. of Virginia
Coach Karl Kuhn explains and demos the The Towel Drill
BP Slash Drill – John Cohen MS St. Univ.
Coach John Cohen explains and demos the BP Slash Drill
Three Corner Drill – Jim Schlossnagle – TCU
Coach Schlossnagle explains and demos the three corner baserunning drill
3 Drills to Become a More Flexible Catcher
Three basic drills can improve your hip flexibility, sway, posture and balance in your primary and secondary receiving positions. Flexibility in your primary and secondary positions will give you better depth in your stance, which in turn will…
Developing an Offensive Approach Against Opponents and Pitchers
As you develop an offensive approach for the season, you must evaluate the skills and talents of your players. Some offensive teams are built on speed, some on manufacturing runs, and some on power hitting. Teams with speed can create havoc for…
Learn to Throw the Thumb Splitter
The original splitter made famous by Bruce Sutter has since been utilized by many pitchers on every level. Unfortunately, it has also attributed to many elbow injuries along the way. Perfecting the pitch and avoiding injury has been a double-edged…
A Pitcher’s Guide to Preventing Stolen Bases
If you are a pitcher, it’s time to learn how to stop aggressive base runners in their tracks. Let’s take a look at three key variables you need to master to prevent stolen bases.
Pre-Hab Shoulder Training – Jon Francis
The sport of Baseball requires power, strength, speed, balance, and flexibility. As a strength coach my job is to maximize the potential in each of these aspects for every baseball player that is in my program. One important aspect in training…
Developing a Mental Skills & Toughness Training Plan of Action
Ask any athlete, coach or sports fan ‘of all the athletic attributes, which is the most important?’ Even the most casual athlete, coach or sports fan will provide an answer that in some way relates to the mental toughness, potential and power…
Proper Shoulder Training for Throwing Athletes
There are two schools of thought when it comes to shoulder training for athletes who throw. No matter what the athlete or the sport, pitchers, quarterbacks, javelin throwers, volleyball players, softball players, you typically get two differing…
Staying Mentally Tough Through Injuries
It is said that there are only two certainties in life…death and taxes. In baseball, for every team, and for almost every player at one point or another, you can almost count on a third…the probability of injuries. For players they are among…
Improve Your Hitting and Throwing Power With Baseball-Specific Core Exercises
Most baseball players understand that core strength is critical—how else could you perform basic skills like throwing a ball or swinging a bat? However, to properly train the core for performance gains—and to stay healthy—you must first understand…
How to know if a pitcher is hurting
A coach walks to the mound and asks “How do you feel?” The pitcher says “Fine coach.” Sound familiar? It should because in high school and above, that’s pretty much all you are going to get from any pitcher.
Pitch Selection
It’s difficult to underestimate the importance of pitch selection as it relates to winning games. Whether coaches choose to make these decisions or leave them to the pitcher and catcher, these basic principles should guide the pitch-selection process
How to prevent your signs from being stolen
When you find out that somehow a team is getting your pitch signs, there are a number of things that can be done. Which solution chosen depends on how they are getting the signs, who is giving them to the batter, and/or what level of baseball this…
Right-Handed Pitcher’s Pickoff to First Base
Why do most right-handed pitchers have a difficult time holding runners at first base? The problem is twofold. First, they don’t work on their deliveries to the plate with runners on first base, and second, they don’t work properly on setting up …
Pitchers: Pre-Game Routine
Going into his fifth start of this 2011 season, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez had a 1st inning ERA of 29.25. Prior to his latest start, the announcers talked quite a bit about what causes pitchers to have so much difficulty in the first…
Bat Discipline
Baseball coaches will all admit that the physical proficiency in hitting is keyed on meeting the ball squarely with good bat speed. They would further admit that this is a very difficult skill to master, and this is the reason why all coaches are…
Batting tee drills … that don’t involve hitting! – Bob McCreary
Shortstop – Across the Bag Drill:
A common mistake for shortstops is unnecessarily catching a double play ball directly over the bag. To target this, a batting tee can come in handy. Place the tee with a ball on it about 1 – 3 feet on the second…
Try This Baseball Hitting Drill For a Balanced Swing
The Step-Back Hitting Drill is a favorite of mine, because it addresses so many aspects of the swing. Incorporate it into your training to reinforce your weight shift, keep your shoulders level, control your stride length and shore up overall timing.